Consequences of Arrogance
by Kaiju Alpha
Summary: As he watches the names of the dead become memorialized, Mark Russell and Houston Brooks discuss whether or not human arrogance is the cause behind the new Age of the Titans.


Mark watched as the names of the people of Monarch who died during Ghidorah's quick yet devastating reign names were etched into the memorial tablet. A few he recognized immediately: Vivienne Graham, Ishiro Serizawa, and Emma Russell. People whom he treated as friends during and after his time working for Monarch and one who, despite her misguided yet well-meaning intentions, was once upon a time the love of his life. Now, her name as well as the others now joined the ranks of others who were affiliated with Monarch such as Joe Brody, William Randa, Preston Packard, Eiji Serizawa, Victor Nieves, Earl Cole, Tres Morales, and many, _many_ more with others that would soon follow.

_Are we even _meant_to own this planet in the first place_? he thought to himself.

"Hey," a voice called out. "Ilene told me you'd be here."

Mark looked up to see Houston Brooks, a calming smile on his face and a mug of steaming hot coffee in each hand, one of which he set down next to him.

"Somethin' to keep you warm and wake you up." Brooks told him.

"Thanks," Mark replied, mustering up the best smile he could at the moment. "Just the pick me up I needed."

It really wasn't. In fact, after the events a few days ago; Emma's betrayal, Ghidorah's brief rule as alpha, the thousands if not millions of people who died as a result of the Titans rising, humanity being forced to share a planet with the gargantuan beasts, the possibility that other Titans not even Monarch was aware of were still sleeping or awake, the risk Godzilla could turn on mankind if he so chose. It was a lot to adjust to.

"Houston," Mark asked. "Do you think, maybe, if humanity didn't consist of a bunch of arrogant shitheads, things would've turned out differently?"

Houston finished his sip of coffee and raised an eyebrow.

"Different in what _way_ exactly?"

"Like," explained Mark. "It was arrogance that nearly led to San Francisco becoming a nuclear crater, it was arrogance that nearly doomed Skull Island twice (I read the reports regarding the '95 expedition, I know what I'm talking about), it was arrogance that we could control the Titans that led to Ghidorah breaking free, it was arrogance that we could _destroy_ the Titans nearly dooming the world not to mention resulting in the deaths of thousands, Serizawa being one of them, and it was arrogance that the Titans could be kept in a nice bow of secrecy from the public. And the kicker? Humanity is never gonna admit it!"

After catching his breath, Mark grabbed his mug and guzzled down as much of the bitter, hot liquid as he could before setting it down in order to keep his tongue from burning. Houston paused for a moment and spun his mug around before taking another sip, letting the man catch his breath.

"Mark," Houston told him calmly. "I hate to say this, but, humanity ain't perfect. Yeah, shocking I know. Arrogance is just one of the many flaws God gifted to us when he was still figuring out what we were gonna look like. Even if we weren't arrogant, there'd still be other factors leading to the Titans coming back either way; blissful ignorance, greed, curiosity, the belief in a higher power, or the Titans deciding to just, you know, wake up with no human interference whatsoever."

Houston turned his gaze toward the memorial tablet and continued to sip his coffee. Mark sighed and returned his gaze toward the tablet as well. Maybe Houston was right about something. When humanity woke up Godzilla back in 1954 with the _Nautilus_, it was only because of Eiji Serizawa believed him to be the key to ending the fifteen year reign of terror by the Shinomura swarms after they had been awakened by the bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. The Mutos were only awakened after a mining group in the Philippines mistook the cavern they were later found in (along with the skeleton of Godzilla's ancestor, Dagon) for a uranium mine. The only reason Skull Island was on Monarch's radar was because of a desire to explore what existed on it.

Even if humanity wasn't arrogant, the Titans would still reawaken. They were the original masters of the world; Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, Kong, Scylla, Shinomura, Margygr, Ramarak, Methuselah, Behemoth, Kraken, Jinshin-Mushi, Mokele-Mbembe, Leviathan, Sekhmet, Typhon, and countless others either still asleep or unaccounted for. They ruled the planet before and after the dinosaurs and were even worshiped as gods by civilizations forgotten to the passages of time that pre-dated even the Babylonians. And, chances were, after humanity shared the same fate as the dinosaurs, the Titans would remain, once again the undisputed rulers of Earth as they were millions of years ago. For all he was concerned, the return of the Titans was inevitable, human interference or not.

Just then, the alarm went off. Godzilla was on the move. Rick popped his head from behind a corner as he broke away from a wave of scrambling workers.

"Brooks, Mark, look alive," he told them. "We got two live ones. Yamane wants all hands on deck to volunteer for damage control."

"What's the situation?" Mark asked.

"Apparently Leviathan took a wrong turn in the Atlantic and wandered too close into Behemoth's territory. Spoilers, Manny the Elephant-Sloth ain't happy!"

"Wow." Mark commented.

Rick scoffed, "Yeah, 'wow'. For things that may be in charge of keeping Nature in balance, they sure as _shit_ can't keep each other in check. What's more, their little schoolyard rumble's caught Big G's attention and he's headed there now to set them straight."

Mark then drank what little remained of his now lukewarm coffee and turned to the elder Brooks.

"Well," he shrugged. "Duty calls."

This received a nod from Houston before both men rushed to the command deck.


End file.
